Local Sports 4-22-2020

| April 22, 2020

The Nebraska men’s basketball team is losing another player. Six foot-eight inch forward Kevin Cross has entered his name in the transfer portal. His departure comes days after Lincoln Pius graduate Charles Easley announced that he’s transferring to South Dakota State. Cross averaged 7.1 points and 3.9 rebounds per game for the Huskers last season. He scored 23 points in the season finale against Indiana in the Big Ten Tournament. Cross is the fifth player to announce transfer plans following the Huskers 7-25 season. He follows Jervay Green, Dachon Burke, Cam Mack and Easley. Nebraska is now slated to bring back only three scholarship players from last season. Those three combined for 21.6% of Nebraska’s points last season, 19.3% of its three pointers and 32.8% of its rebounds. Nebraska signed five players in its 2020 recruiting class.

Creighton guard Ty-Shon Alexander is signing with an agent and will officially forego his senior season with the Jays. As a junior, Alexander ranked fifth in the Big East in scoring. He averaged 16.9 points per game and led the team in steals with 41.

It was another big day of racing yesterday at Fonner Park in Grand Island. The track had a mutual handle of 6.5 million dollars. The total pool for the Dinsdale Automotive Pick 5 Jackpot was just over 2.3 million dollars. Each correct 50 cent ticket paid 14-thousand, 612 dollars. Racing resumes today. First race post time will be at 4:00pm.

The Lincoln Saltdogs and the American Association has announced a delay to the start of their season because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The season was suppose to start on May 19th. Saltdogs President and General Manager Charlie Meyer says the season will not begin without government approval to host events.

NFL> The New England Patriots have agreed to trade Rob Gronkowski to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a deal that reunites the retired tight end with Tom Brady in Tampa Bay. Gronkowski has one year and nine million dollars remaining on his current deal with the Patriots. New England will receive a fourth round pick in the NFL draft in exchange for Gronkowski. Tampa Bay will get a seventh round pick. Gronkowski announced his retirement on March 24, 2019. He had 521 receptions for the Patriots for 78-hundred 61 yards and 79 touchdowns. Since his retirement, Gronk has worked as an analyst for Fox Sports. He’s won the WWE 24/7 championship in this month’s WrestleMania event and made a few television appearances, including a stint on “The Masked Singer.”